A Louisiana couple has been arrested in connection with a case involving the attempted murder of a teenage girl.
Sheriff Tim Soignet of Terrebonne Parish said the 15-year-old was found after suffering severe burns, being shot multiple times and barely “clinging on to life” following a car crash in Texas last month.
On April 20, a Baytown police officer received multiple calls that a car was driving recklessly on Interstate 10 before crashing on a service road.
Later, Latonya Harris, 40, and her boyfriend Terrence Washington, 41, who was driving the vehicle, were arrested.
The teenager’s upper body was severely burned; Soignet called the injuries “horrific.”
An investigator from Baytown, which is about 30 minutes east of Houston, described the teen’s condition as “the worst he’s seen in his entire career.”
The girl’s other injuries included gunshot wounds to the chest and face.
Washington reportedly admitted during a police interview that he had sexually abused the girl for “numerous months.”
He also said he had shot him during an argument he was having with Harris in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
Washington reportedly told police he had a gun in his hand and it went off, hitting the girl in the face.
He also said that he was responsible for burning the girl in February of this year, and that she was being treated by the couple at their home.
Soignet said the couple was with the teenager and another minor when they collided after leaving their home in Louisiana.
The child was taken home after the parents’ arrest, while the teenager was transported to an area hospital.
Investigators obtained a warrant to search the couple’s home, which they said contained evidence of a shooting, including blood and a “strong odor of infection and decomposing flesh.”
A local news package showed the couple’s dilapidated mobile home on the side of a Louisiana highway. Today, yellow police tape surrounds the alleged scene of many horrific crimes.
The couple’s dilapidated mobile home on the side of a road in Louisiana. The local parish sheriff said he can’t ‘begin to express how grateful I am to have these extremely violent criminals in custody;
Harris refused to cooperate with officers after being released from a Texas hospital and taken into custody.
She was charged with attempted first-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to a child and domestic abuse, assault and child endangerment.
She is currently being held on $1 million bail.
Washington was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, second-degree cruelty to a minor, obstruction of justice, sexual abuse of a minor, several counts of indecent conduct with a minor and five counts of second-degree rape.
Currently, Washington remains in the Harris County Detention Center on charges related to alleged crimes committed in the state of Texas.
He will later be transferred to the custody of Terrebonne Parish authorities.
The couple was arrested and charged with multiple violent and serious crimes following a car accident in Texas.
The Louisiana sheriff said the investigation is ongoing at this time.
“This is the type of case where it is not only difficult to deal with the circumstances, but also difficult to imagine the level of violence and evil that can occur at the hands of a human being,” he said.
“I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to have these extremely violent criminals in custody.”
Baytown Police Chief John String said it is “tragic and incomprehensible” any time a “child suffers abuse at the hands of a family or household member.”
‘When the very people a child should be able to rely on for protection and love abuse them. We wish both physical and psychological healing to the victim of this horrible crime,’ she added.